The Wy east Beacon. From the Minister. Wy east : Ancient name for Mount Hood November/December Special Collections Page 3

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1 The Wy east Beacon Wy east : Ancient name for Mount Hood November/December 2011 From the Minister Special Collections Page 3 From the Board Page 3 From the RE Committee Page 4 Before & After Worship Programming Page 5 Wy east meets at the Hollywood Senior Center at 1820 NE 40th, Portland. by First Unitarian Church of Portland, my home congregation during seminary, and the place I received my ministerial calling. Wy east will also be an important part of this occasion, and will do the investiture, presenting me with my ministerial stole (designed and made by Barbara Smith-Thomas of this congregation.) Janine Larsen, the District Executive, will speak to both congregations as part of the ceremony. But what does it really mean to be ordained? After all, I m already your minister. What changes? In some ways, nothing will be different. My contract remains the same, and my relationship with you won t change. But after ordination I ll of cially be a Reverend. A friend and I parsed out the word the other day. According to the dictionary, it of cially means worthy of being revered, but I far prefer to think of it as one who lives reverently, or embraces reverence. In Unitarian Universalism, only the congregations are allowed to ordain ministers. But in actuality, the fellowshipping process is what makes a minister recognized by other congregations and colleagues. As a minister in Preliminary Fellowship, I ve graduated from seminary with a Masters of Divinity, done an internship and a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, and passed a panel interview from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. Only then, could I ask a congregation to ordain me. (Continued on page 2) The parking lot of the U.S. Bank around the corner is available for Wy east on Sundays. That s at the corner of Northeast 41st Avenue and Hancock Street. Please make use of it! 11/6 Drum Circle Paul Evans 11/13 The Silver-Lined Toilet Marcia Stanard 11/20 Breaking Bread Wy east 11/27 Why Marriage Matters Debbie and Brenda Dixon-Smith 12/4 The Pursuit of Happiness Elaine Castles 12/11 Saying Yes Marcia Stanard 12/18 Celebration of Light Wy east children 12/24 Christmas Eve Service at 5pm Marcia Stanard (For Sermon Details, See 2 Months Of Sundays, On Pages 6 & 7)

2 (Continued) This is a joyful rite of passage for me. I m hoping that most of you will be able to make it, and I m pleased that colleagues of mine will be coming from throughout Oregon and Washington. I ll also have friends and family there, including a few I haven t seen since college. This particular joyful event is very public, and I m thrilled to be able to share it. I m also aware that each of us have major events of joy or sorrow. The worship committee is hoping that by expanding our ways of sharing joys and sorrows, more people feel comfortable participating in this important ritual. I do want to remind folks that there are many different ways of sharing the joys and sorrows of our lives with our congregation. Our usual ritual of lighting candles during the service will remain 2 or 3 Sundays each month. We will also continue with the pastoral prayer ritual, inviting people to call a name into the circle, in the hopes that this will allow other people to be more comfortable having their concerns upheld as well. The question was asked, What if I have a really huge joy or sorrow, that can t wait, and it s not a week we do our regular joys and concerns? What a great question! Let me know about it! First I want to know from a pastoral perspective, so I may be able to support or celebrate you as your minister. So, if you ve just lost a spouse, or want to share an engagement or a frightening diagnosis, and need to make sure folks know about this all at once, please let me know and we ll announce it before the pastoral prayer, so we can all support or celebrate you! We are an inclusive community and we care deeply about one another. We want to do this in a way that invites participation from all of our community. Blessed be, and Amen. Join the Wy east Google Groups Wy east has two community-wide lists through Google: Wyeast (for news and announcements about church events) and Wyeast-chat (an informal way for members and friends to share thoughts or events that are not of cial church happenings). To subscribe to these groups, go to or groups.google.com/group/wyeast and groups.google.com/group/wyeast-chat Wy east Directory Wy east has a directory of contact information for lots of people in the community. If you don t know where to nd the directory, you re probably not in it; s are sent periodically to everyone in the directory with instructions on how to access it. If you d like to be added to our directory, contact Betty H. or anyone on the Connections Committee. Newsletter News The Wy east Beacon is published bi-monthly. The deadline for the January/February issue submissions is Thursday, December 15th. Please put this date on your calendar, and send articles, meeting/event dates, poetry, artwork, book recommendations, favorite spiritual practices, etc. to: wyeast-news-editor@googlegroups.com. If you have any questions, contact Sharai E. or send an to the above address. To save paper and printing costs, we are printing fewer copies of the newsletter. We encourage you to view it online, at: Warmly, November 20th, 6:00 pm First Unitarian Church Reception Following the Service Wy east will be providing dinner at 4:30 pm to out-of-town guests, clergy, and members of Wy east who wish to attend. Please contact Tode at tode.wyeast@gmail.com if you re interested in helping out with this. 2

3 Esther s Pantry, a program of Our House, provides food and personal care items to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. A vital community program, Esther s Pantry has served thousands of people over its 25 year history. Open to clients every Monday from noon to 4:00 pm, and Tuesday and Thursday from 2:30 to 6:30 pm, the pantry is unique in that it allows clients to select the food they want from well-stocked shelves, rather than being handed a pre-packed box of food. Gay and Grey, a program of Friendly House, is working with and for GLBTQI elders 60+, creating community and social change. There are an estimated 10,000 GLBTQI elders in and around the Portland metropolitan area. Recent studies indicate that these seniors are more likely to live alone than heterosexual seniors and often lack adequate family support networks. The seniors gather, recreate, socialize, and learn about resources in a safe space, alongside sensitive, caring and aware staff and volunteers. Worship Odds & Ends On Sundays, it is helpful for long-time Wy easters to sit up front, in the middle, or to the far left in order to be more welcoming to newcomers; it will make room for others who are new, people with children (who may need to make quick escapes), or people who want to discreetly enter after the service begins. Thanks! The Wy east worship committee is always dreaming up new ideas for services, speakers and activities. To share ideas or help bring services to life, contact us at wyeast-worship@googlegroups.com or talk to Mark A., Brooke C., Katy L., Amy O., or Marcia S. If your child wants to light the chalice during a worship service, please contact anyone from the worship committee. 3 I OFTEN SAY TO PEOPLE, I LEFT LOS ANGELES TO LEARN ABOUT THE WEATHER. As I step into my fourth Oregon winter I can say sincerely I m a fan of changing seasons. I loved spending spring trying again to memorize the names of owers. I loved spending summer running outside and into the woods, mountains, and swimming holes. I even loved being too hot to move from my place in front of the fan. Wy east s homecoming Water Communion service called me back indoors and back to the work of this board. In learning my seasons, I, like countless others before me, have learned to prepare for the coming winter, full of short days, long nights, cold toes. I have not been preparing alone. I ve been working alongside all our board members to make sure we have a calendar full of events designed to keep me warm running around town. We began our Extended Sundays at Wy east on the fourth Sunday in October, with a second one on the calendar for November 13th. We ll keep the lights on and gather together to share food, warmth and company. It s a winter kinda thing. Also coming up in November will be the formal ordination of Marcia Stanard, our Minister, on November 20th. One week later Wy east will continue our tradition of serving a meal of thanksgiving to the seniors of the Hollywood Senior Center, on November 27th. Just as I know that winter does not end there, so too should you know that our opportunities for gathering together and celebrating do not end there either. I m happy to say that due to the feedback from so many of you, who ve come to me sharing your ideas on how we can continue to increase the quality and quantity of our time together (I m hearing about sewing, singing, cooking, playing) well, my list of December s activities would strain the boundaries of this column. I look forward to your presence, Board Moderator

4 It feels like Wy east is really entering a new phase, one where scarcity, though still present, is no longer our driving force. The vision of a better Wy east is what pushes us forward now that the basics are met. In the Religious Education ( RE ) program, this shift has a few manifestations I d like to tell you about. The basics are met in that we have marvelous regular teachers creating engaging weekly classes for our youngest to our oldest (many thanks to Johanna, Shayna, Ashley, Holly, and Anders!). As we continue to support our teachers and maintain the high standards of their classes, we re looking at new and exciting things Wy east RE can do. A cool idea Anders had was to take the World Religions curriculum we re loosely working from for our 4th grade+ kids on the road. We re still deciding if we will pursue it this year, but wouldn t it be great for our older kids to attend another church, synagogue, Baha i or Hindu temple, or mosque on occasion? Another idea we re working on is crafting a tailored coming-of-age program for each kid at or approaching that time of life. In mid-october, Raz Mason told us at the pulpit about the emotional impact a wedding had on her, reminding us of the importance of rituals to mark big changes. Going from childhood to adolescence/adulthood is a big change. The RE committee is working on ways to give our kids something meaningful and memorable to celebrate this special time in their development. If you have other ideas, or opinions or offers of help for these ideas, let the RE Committee know! Contact the Religious Education Committee Chair if you have questions about our children s programming at Wy east: wyeast-re@googlegroups.com. by Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly These two philosophers (from U. C. Berkeley and Harvard) show ways of thinking, seeing and acting that we no longer have. The Greeks of Homer s time felt the activity and immanence of their gods in their lives. For example, Helen of Troy was under the in uence of Aphrodite erotic love; Achilles the warrior Ares; and Odysseus wandered over the waters for 10 years with the guidance of Athena, goddess of wisdom. Dreams, feelings and moods were public and shared, not attributed to separate individuals as they are now (no psychoanalysis!) Each god/goddess also represented a speci c kind of excellence. We understand excellence as in a gure who is incomparable Willie Mays; Nureyev, the dancer; Pavarotti, whose gorgeous sound seemed incredible you name them. We don t associate these gifts with speci c gods. But, because we don t think that way, we may miss opportunities to recognize shining things as they occur. Western thinking has passed through the Greeks, through Roman, and Christian, and entered the enlightenment, wherein all must be explained scienti cally, splitting apart what we think from what we intuit. Now we are beginning to recognize that scienti c method depends on what and how scientists study and what they ignore or are unaware of. Monotheism isn t the only glimpse we have! These two philosophers show there are manifold senses of the sacred. This book is illuminating and shows that philosophy and philosophers are really alive and useful today. [Available at Multnomah County Library] If you have questions for the Wy east Board of Trustees, you can send an to wyeast board@googlegroups.com or talk to any board member (David Tode O., Nancy D., Dan E., Hank H., and Liana A.) on Sundays at church. 4

5 If you have a programming idea that you would like to facilitate in the future, please contact Mark A. Potluck Brunch bring a dish to share right after the service. Our potlucks are usually held on the second Sunday of each month. We will have a our November potluck on November 13th. Bring a dish to share. Please note that there will be no potluck on December 11 due to the Celebration of Light rehearsal. It will instead be a week later, December 18 at 11:30 am. Marcia Stanard s Ordination 6:00 pm. First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel, SW 12th & Salmon St. Everyone is invited. Restaurant Adventure 11:40 am Thanksgiving Luncheon for the Seniors (Because of Marcia s ordination on the 20th, our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon that we put on for 50 seniors from the Senior Center will be held this year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 27th.) Please contact Mark about bringing a dish. Thank you. After our service on the fourth Sunday of each month, those who are interested gather for lunch at a local restaurant. It is an opportunity for lively and topical conversation, and for enjoying the bounty of wonderful restaurant food available in Portland. Celebration of Light rehearsal 12:00 noon No Potluck Brunch this Sunday Potluck Brunch bring a dish to share right after the Celebration of Light. Christmas Eve Service 5:00 pm 5 Our group varies in size from as few as four to as many as 15, and often includes both adults and children. We announce the month s destination during the service, gather a list of interested congregants, and then call ahead to make reservations. We try to nd places with a variety of moderately priced vegetarian and omnivorous menu items. We have some regular stops on the rotation, and we re always on the lookout for new restaurants to try.

6 November 6 DRUM CIRCLE With the pulse of a beat, people have been making a statement of humanity and grandness longer than we have been able to speak. By drumming together, we connect with an ancient practice and with the pulse of our circle. Please join us as Paul Evans, musician, artist and friend of Wy east, takes us deeper, in another participatory drum circle. Bring your drums! We will have some available, but the service will involve everyone, with or without one. November 13 THE SILVER-LINED TOILET In general, looking on the bright side is a good thing. Sometimes, however, life gets really overwhelming. Where s that balance between being grateful for the good, and acknowledging the dif culty of the bad? Sermon by our minister, Marcia Stanard. Wy east Potluck Brunch: 11:30 a.m. Bring a potluck dish to share. November 20 BREAKING BREAD Each autumn, we pause to give thanks for the food we gather from the earth. In this intergenerational service, we ll hear a story from four of our members about the bread each has baked, has in hand, how it connects to their personal history, and the meaning it holds for them. Then, during social hour, they ll share these loaves with all of us. November 27 WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS The issue of marriage rights for same-sex couples is a hotly debated topic. Some states have instituted civil unions, and even Oregon has created domestic partnerships. But is that enough? Debbie and Brenda Dixon-Smith, married in Canada in 2006, will share their experiences with the institution of marriage and why it is important to ensure marriage equality for all people. 6

7 December 4 THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS Back with us from the Mid-Columbia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Hood River, Elaine Castles says: According to our Founding Fathers, all Americans have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But is happiness really something that we can pursue? Let us explore what ancient religious wisdom and modern psychological research have to say about the true nature of happiness. December 11 SAYING YES What does it mean to answer yes? Sermon by our minister, Rev. Marcia Stanard. Religious Education (Pre-K-8th Grade): Children attend the beginning of the service, and then go to class. Nursery care is also available for infants and toddlers. Celebration of Light rehearsal there will be no Potluck (see box) December 18 CELEBRATION OF LIGHT Religious Education (Pre-K-8th Grade): This is an intergenerational service. Nursery care is also available for infants and toddlers. Wy east Potluck Brunch: 11:30 a.m. Bring a potluck dish to share. December 24 CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE Come for this intergenerational service which will end with the traditional candle-lit Silent Night. Nursery care is also available for infants and toddlers. Service: 5:00 p.m. Celebration of Light! WY EAST S ANNUAL WINTER PAGEANT of holidays from religious traditions around the world will be taking place during worship on December 18. The children will act out scenes in stories from Native American, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Thai, Chinese and American traditions. Rehearsal for the celebration of light will be after worship on December 11, at about Noon. Pizza will be provided; please tell Anders about any dietary restrictions so we can provide food that everyone can eat. Rehearsal may take up to 2 hours. Any adults interested in helping with the celebration are welcome to assist we re going to be even more organized than last year! We will be displacing the potluck people are welcome to stay and eat and watch the rehearsal, but we will be reciting lines and processing back and forth throughout the senior center, trying to hear cues from across the room. Rehearsal: December 11, 12:00 Noon Celebration of Light: December 18, 10:30 am December 25 NO SUNDAY SERVICE 7